just a beat behind

it's not that often that you see eight brand new john deere combines driving down the road. it's not that often that a mile-long bridge is closed while eight shiny new combines cross it. it's not that often someone hires an arial photographer to photograph their line of combines. and even less often is your child onboard the lead combine in the convoy. so if you miss your opportunity to photograph said combines, that's it, it was probably the one shot you were going to get at such a thing in your lifetime.

but what if your one shot at such a photo opportunity coincides with one of those days. one of those days when everything you do is just a few beats behind? you JUST miss the bus or train as it's pulling away. the person ahead of you gets the last freshly-squeezed juice from the case. you're late for work and there's a long line at starbucks. you're just a little bit too late for everything you want to do.

well, on the big combine day, we had one of those days.

we were supposed to be ahead of combines, to catch them coming AT us across the bridge.
but as you can see, we were behind them.
so after the bridge, we made a series of bold moves and passed them,
speeding ahead to strategically place ourselves at a curve in the road.
exactly where the line of combines would appear to best advantage.

and so we waited. 

and we looked for the best vantage point.

and we got a little bored and began to amuse ourselves.
there were quite a lot of cameras involved.

and a pair of binoculars.

and while we played around and took one another's pictures....
all eight combines turned off and never came past where we were waiting.
bugger.